Year in Review: Sanchez’s career has been derailed by control issues, as well as arm and shoulder injuries since he tossed a no-hitter as a rookie in 2006. After working his way back from labrum surgery in 2008, Sanchez made 16 starts with the Marlins in 2009 and six others in the minors. On the surface his 3.87 ERA looks nice, but his 7.43 K/9 rate is severely off-set by his woeful 4.81 BB/9 rate. This all amounts to a 4.60 FIP. Control has been an issue for Sanchez and he did little to silence the critics in 2009. He does have the necessary repertoire to rack up solid strikeout rates.

The Year Ahead: Sanchez will head into 2010 as a 26-year-old pitcher trying to complete his first full season in a big-league rotation. After building up his arm over the past two seasons after surgery, 2010 may be the year he finally logs 30 starts. His control issues will plague him from becoming a top-of-the-rotation starter but he has the making of a solid mid-rotation option. His durability is a concern, but he’s taken steps towards logging more innings. An uptick in control from Sanchez would be dandy, but he’s a sleeper nonetheless because he’s been forgotten by some due to his shoulder woes. (Dan Budreika)

Profile: Though he has a no-hitter on his resume, you might say that Sanchez doesn't have no-hit stuff. His swinging-strike rate is average, his fastball only cracked a 91 mph average this last year for the first time, and his slider is his best pitch. It looks like Sanchez isn't going to strike out many more than seven per nine, so it's all about his walks. His control is no sure thing, as it's oscillated from close to five per nine to the low threes, but when it's going he can be a decent (if not front-line) pitcher. What makes him even harder to draft in fantasy is the fact that he's so injury-prone, however. In the last five years, he's only amassed 81 starts, and 32 of those were last year. His downside is clear, and with such modest upside, he's probably best left to the late rounds of almost any fantasy draft. (Eno Sarris)

The Quick Opinion: Control is Sanchez' bugaboo. When he's got it, he's a decent mid-rotation fantasy starter in a good park; when it's gone, he's probably on his way to the DL anyway.

Profile: Anibal had another good season in 2011 after a breakout year in 2010. Signs point to him having just of good a season in 2012. The key to his success the last couple of years is his improving control. His strikeout-to-walk ratio has over doubled from 1.5 in 2009 to 3.2 in 2011. This change is fuel by an increase in his strikeout rate from 7.4 to 9.3 and a decrease in his walk rate from 4.8 to 2.9. The increase in K/9 moved him from the 150 strikeouts per season level to the 200 strikeouts per season level. The one knock against him is that he puts in just over six innings per start. If he was able to go seven per start, his strikeout total would go up by 30. With the his newfound control, there is no reason that he can not repeat 2011 again with a sub 3.5 ERA, double digit wins and 200+ strikeouts. He is undervalued come draft day -- look at his average draft position to see if you can get him cheap. (jeff Zimmerman)

The Quick Opinion: Sanchez's new found control has led him to be an undervalued asset on draft day.

Profile: Chicago might have been a better place for Anibal Sanchez to end up -- the National League is just so much nicer to pitchers -- but at least the pitcher was signed by a team in an okay park for pitchers with a good lineup behind him. Comerica Park does have a basic park factor of 102, but it suppresses home runs by lefties by 2% and that might be good news for the 29-year-old righty. Except that he gives up fewer fly balls and homers to lefties than righties in a strange reverse platoon split. In any case, Sanchez has left that labrum surgery so far in his rear-view mirror that it rarely gets mentioned. Three straight near-200-inning seasons with an above-average swinging strike rate and steady velocity will do that for you. Don't expect him to strikeout a batter per inning like he did in the National League, but he does get strikeouts and ground-balls. The best change for Sanchez has been a new emphasis on first strikes, which has pushed his walk rate into the above-average territory, joining those strikeout and ground-ball rates as strengths most seasons. The only word of warning is that none of these rates is elite or outstanding. (Eno Sarris)

The Quick Opinion: No single aspect of Anibal Sanchez's game is top-shelf. But the results he's shown, and his ability to stay off the shelf over the past three years, make him a steady mid-rotation starter in fantasy baseball. Even in the American League.

Profile: Surprisingly, Sanchez enjoyed a career year after pitching his first full season in the more hitter-friendly American League. While he certainly benefited from a bit of good fortune -- his 5.8% home run per fly ball rate is simply unsustainable -- he posted the best skills of his career. Behind those surging skills was a dramatic strikeout rate spike. His fastball velocity, which had already increased gradually for an amazing five straight seasons, jumped 1.2 mph to reach a career best 93 mph. Oddly, even with better velocity than ever before, he threw the pitch less often, instead choosing to up his usage of the changeup. The changes boosted his swinging strike rate to a mark which ranked third-highest among qualified starters. While some regression must be assumed, he should again be one of the best starters in the AL if he can maintain the velocity gain.However, health continues to be an issue and he has yet to reach the 200 inning plateau. (Mike Podhorzer)

The Quick Opinion: A sixth straight season with increased fastball velocity fueled a strikeout rate spike and led to a career performance. While health questions will limit his innings pitched expectations and cap his fantasy value, he should deliver another strong season if he can maintain the velocity spike.

Profile: With his fantasy value at an all-time high headed into 2014, Anibal Sanchez was unable to replicate his outstanding 2013, although he still was able to provide owners value when on the field. The righty did not sustain a career-high 27% strikeout rate, seeing it fall to 20% in 2014, right in line with his career average. The same story holds for his swinging strike rate. His fastball velocity, which had climbed each of the past six seasons, fell off a touch, ruining one of the most impressive upward trajectories in baseball. That said, the overall package did not completely crumble. He managed to cut his walk rate a hair and continued to be stingy with the home run ball. Perhaps the biggest knock on Sanchez is his health, and he did nothing to dissuade that notion, losing about a third of the season to a strained pectoral muscle. Now on the wrong side of 30 and yet to reach 200 innings in a season, owners have to be willing to get a prorated discount on the Tiger come draft day. He has the upside to finish at a top-40 SP, but without the cumulative innings, he's a more safe bet to look into once 50 or more have come off the board. (Colin Zarzycki)

The Quick Opinion: Sanchez was unable to replicate an impressive strikeout rate surge from 2013, but his rates stayed stable enough that he is still a valuable starter. However, without elite punchouts and with lingering durability questions which have persisted into his thirties, he is a risky selection inside the top 40 fantasy starters on draft day.

Profile: The biggest question surrounding Sanchez going into 2015 is one all-too-familiar to him: health. Durability was on the back-burner for a few years as he logged more than 195 innings each year from 2010-12, but then the shoulder that was such an issue earlier in his career flared up in 2013 and cost him a few starts with his first disabled list stint since 2009. He had a career year in the 182 innings he did throw, so the shoulder seemed like just a bump in the road. Sanchez would log only 126 innings the following season, the time missed due to finger and pectoral injuries now giving him three DL stints in two seasons after zero in the previous three. The pesky right shoulder became a huge issue again in 2015. When it wasn't costing him time on the mound, it negatively impacted his ability to keep the ball in the park. He allowed 33 home runs in 504 IP from 2012-14 and then 29 in just 157 IP last season. There was no structural damage found in the shoulder so he's expected to be ready for the start of 2016, but expectations have waned considerably for the 32-year old righty. He's a decent later round gamble given how much the price has dropped, but you should get that career year out of your mind and plan for a mid-to-upper 3.00s ERA with his 2014 levels now serving as the upside. (Paul Sporer)

The Quick Opinion: The injury issues that plagued Sanchez from 2006-09 have returned over the last two seasons, limiting him to just 142 innings on average after 192 per season from 2010-13. It's easy to see where the shoulder injury impacted him most, as his 29 homers allowed were an American League high last year.

Profile: The trendline was ugly for Sanchez in 2016. For once, the Detroit righty could say he was healthy and that for once his shoulder did not send him to the disabled list for any length of time. Unfortunately, the production he did provide was quite subpar, as Sanchez posted a career-worst 5.87 ERA, bad enough that it led to him being booted from the rotation. Perhaps there was a little bad BABIP luck in there (.317 BABIP) but his xFIP over the past four years (2.91, 3.56, 4.03, 4.62) tells the story of a pitcher who is heading the wrong direction. It's not only the top-level peripherals either -- his fastball velocity dropped nearly a full mile per hour and is now at its lowest mark since before his 1.3 mph spike in 2013. Sanchez is under contract for one more season (with a 2018 buyout) and will likely head into spring training at the backend of the Tigers rotation. While his value may be suppressed enough that he's available as a flyer in deeper mixed or AL-only leagues, there are likely younger guys with higher ceilings worth targeting in fantasy drafts.(Colin Zarzycki)

The Quick Opinion: Sanchez had his worst season as a pro in 2016 and both the traditional stats and underlying peripherals do not paint a pretty picture heading into 2017. Now 33, the righty's run as a well-above-average starting pitcher may be drawing to a close based on production alone, to say nothing of the always looming specter of yet another shoulder injury.

If you would like to make a projection for this player, please Log In or Register.